Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
AMMI D. HAWKS
was born in Binghamton, New York, in 1834. His father, Nelson P. Hawks, was a
native of Pennsylvania, who, early in life, located in New York, and there
married Miss Hannah Crocker, a native of that State. When the subject of this
sketch was three years old his father moved to Wisconsin and settled in Waukesha
County. He was a pioneer of that section and became largely interested in
building up that portion of the State, and besides engaging in farming
operations, built and conducted a hotel; also built a flouring mill and
saw-mill. He was energetic, public‑spirited and a thorough business man, well
and favorably known to the settlers of Waukesha County. Mr. Hawks was reared and
schooled in that county, and learned the trade of a miller. When about nineteen
years of age he engaged as a clerk in a wholesale and retail grocery store in
Chicago, and later, in 1856, located in Milwaukee, where he followed mercantile
pursuits until the next year. In the fall of 1857 be entered upon a course of
study at Racine College, which he continued until the war of the Rebellion
induced him to enter the service of his country. In 1862 he enlisted as a
private in Company C, Twenty-eighth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers. He served
faithfully until the close of the war, and during that period participated in
the battles, sieges and marches of the Thirteenth Army Corps, to which his
regiment was attached. His soldierly qualities gained him the respect of his
superiors and he was promoted to the responsible position of
Quartermaster-Sergeant of his regiment. Among the battles in which Mr. Hawks
participated may be mentioned the battle of Helena, the Yazoo expedition, the
capture of Little Rock, and the siege and capture of Mobile, Alabama. The death
of his father having occurred in 1863, at the close of the war Mr. Hawks
returned to Wisconsin and took charge of the old homestead and spent the next
six years in agricultural pursuits. In 1872 he located at Green Bay, Wisconsin,
and engaged in mercantile pursuits, establishing a grocery store which he
conducted until 1875. In that year he came to California and took up his
residence in San Francisco, where he was employed as the bookkeeper of the
Pacific Type Foundry. He held that responsible position for seven years, and
then engaged in the manufacture of printers' rollers, after which he established
a collection agency, which he conducted until 1887. In July of that year he took
up his residence in Sierra Madre, on a twenty-acre tract of land that he had
purchased in 1881. This land is located near the corner of Baldwin and Central
avenues. The first year in Sierra Madre was spent by Mr. Hawks in his business
as a real-estate dealer, he having established an
office on Baldwin avenue, but since that time he has devoted himself to
horticultural pursuits and is placing his lands under citrus and deciduous fruit
cultivation. Of his original tract he now has about fifteen acres, which he is
rapidly planting with orange trees. Mr. Hawks was the first to bring to Sierra
Madre the celebrated Japanese orange�the Oonshiu. This is a thornless tree,
producing a seedless fruit of rich flavor. He now has over 100 very fine
specimens of that tree upon his place. Mr. Hawks is a thorough-going business
man, and as he is applying sound business principles to his horticultural
pursuits, he is destined to build up one of the representative places of the
colony. He is a public-spirited citizen, taking a deep interest in the future
growth and prosperity of Sierra Madre. Politically he is a Republican. He has
been prominent in various fraternal and beneficial societies and organizations
and is a member of the following orders: George H. Thomas Post, No. 2, G. A. R.;
Fidelity Lodge, No. 136, A. O. U. W.; Fidelity Lodge, No. 2,108, K. of H.; and
Memorial Lodge, No. 6, U. E. A., all of San Francisco. He was for nine years the
efficient secretary of the A. O. U. W. and K. of H. lodges. He is a member and
trustee of the Episcopal Church of Sierra Madre. In 1865 Mr. Hawks married Miss
Almeriah A. Topliff, a native of New York. Her parents were Dyer and Elmina
(Woodruff) Topliff, also of that State. From this marriage there are the
following named children: Laura T., Ruth T., Daisy E. and Jamie N.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1889 Page 499
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler